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Faculty recitals, ensembles highlight February concert schedule
The JACK Quartet, appearing at UB on Feb. 24, has established a reputation for high-energy performances.
Two recitals by UB faculty members will open a full February concert schedule presented by the Department of Music, which includes performances by premiere ensembles Les Percussions de Strasbourg and JACK Quartet.
The month will begin with flutist Barry Crawford presenting his first UB faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
Crawford will be accompanied by faculty members Alison d’Amato, piano, and Anna Mattix, oboe, for a program that includes work by Gaubert, Debussy, Amirov and Copland.
Tickets are $10 for the general public; $5 for faculty, staff, alumni and seniors; and free to UB students with ID.
Adjunct assistant professor of music at UB, Crawford is principal flute of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players; the Slee Sinfonietta, UB’s professional chamber ensemble; Ensemble Pi; Sedna Winds; and Poetica Musica, with whom he has performed and given master classes in more than 16 countries. He regularly performs as a guest artist with some of New York’s leading ensembles, including the American Ballet Theater, Brandenburg Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and others.
D’Amato, a visiting assistant professor at UB, is a dynamic and versatile musician committed to performing and teaching in the full spectrum of solo and chamber music genres. A member of several pioneering organizations, she is artistic co-director of Florestan Recital Project and co-founder of the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI).
An adjunct instructor at UB, Mattix joined the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s oboe section in June 2007 on English horn. Prior to her position with the BPO, she played principal oboe with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and English horn with the Owensboro Philharmonic.
Also presenting his first faculty recital will be pianist Eric Heubner, assistant professor of music. Huebner will perform the third and final book of Ligeti Etudes during a performace at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 in Lippes Concert Hall; Jeremy Denk performed the first two books in his recital earlier this month.
Tickets are $10 for the general public; $5 for faculty, staff, alumni and seniors; and free to UB students with ID.
Huebner has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. As a frequent guest pianist with the New York Philharmonic, he has been featured in performances of Stravinsky’s Petroushka and Firebird suites, in addition to symphonies by Ives and Martinu. He also appears regularly as a part of CONTACT!—the Philharmonic’s recently formed new music series.
The pioneering ensemble Les Percussions de Strasbourg will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in Lippes Concert Hall as part of the Slee/Visiting Artist Series. The concert will feature a broad range of contemporary works for percussion, including Xenakis’s “Pleiades” and Varèse’s “Ionisation.”
Earlier that day, the ensemble will present an open-to-the-public “informance” at 2 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall.
Advance tickets are $12 for general admission; $9 for UB faculty/staff/alumni and senior citizens; and $5 for students. Tickets at the door are $20, $15 and $8.
Les Percussions de Strasbourg was founded in 1962 as the first Western percussion ensemble, committed to presenting innovative forms of musical expression. Forty-five years later, Les Percussions de Strasbourg continues to demonstrate the exceptional longevity and energy of that vision.
The group has commissioned hundreds of works—including 250 world premières—founding the tradition of repertoire for classical percussion ensemble.
The Department of Music and the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music are bringing the renowned JACK Quartet back to UB for a return engagement at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus.
The quartet, which performed at UB in September 2009, will conduct a composer workshop at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 in Baird Recital Hall. The session will be free and open to the public.
A highlight of JACK’s program on Feb. 24 will be a performance of Matthias Pintscher’s “Study IV for Treatise on a Veil,” following Pintscher’s successful visit to UB in October as both composer and conductor of the Slee Sinfonietta in a performance of his 2009 work for baritone and orchestra “songs from Solomon’s garden.”
Advance tickets are $12 for general admission; $9 for UB faculty/staff/alumni and senior citizens; and $5 for students. Tickets at the door are $20, $15 and $8.
The JACK Quartet, comprised of violist John Pickford Richards, violinists Ari Streisfeld and Christopher Otto, and cellist Kevin McFarland—JACK coming from the first letter of the members’ first names—has established a reputation for giving high-energy performances of today’s most demanding works for string quartet. The quartet is focused on commissioning and performing new works, leading members to work closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Sharp, Beat Furrer, Caleb Burhans and Aaron Cassidy, as well as Pintscher.
In addition to working with composers and performers, JACK seeks to broaden and diversify the potential audience for new music through educational presentations designed for a variety of ages, backgrounds and levels of musical experience.
Tickets for all Department of Music concerts may be obtained at the Slee Hall box office, the Center for the Arts box office and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com.
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